Wanting what you can't have
by ShabbyChic
Summary: In his latest attempt to get his son to take over Malfoy Industries, Lucius offers Hermione Granger the position his son rejected. Lucius is hoping that this will awaken Draco's competitive nature and make him want the role.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: I'll keep this brief, this is the first ever story I have decided to publish and I would really appreciate any comments or criticism you have. Thanks Nx**

Draco Malfoy leaned back in his chair; he shut his eyes for a moment listening to the rain, and reached instinctively for his coffee mug. Looking up at the ceiling he rubbed the stubble on his face with his free hand and raised his mug to his mouth. After taking a sip of the cold drink he sighed and put the mug back in its place, marked by a dark circular stain, and scowled down at his desk.

If anyone were to enter his office they may think said object had somehow offended the young man. However, upon closer inspection they would learn that Malfoy was in fact scowling at a seemingly innocent piece of parchment. A few more minutes in the office and they would see Malfoy produce a stick of wood from his pocket point it at the parchment and mutter some incoherent Latin, causing the parchment to combust. Malfoy stood up, grabbing a clipboard and several files from his desk, and he pulled on his pale green healer's robes. As he closed his office door he glanced at the empty space where the parchment had been only a minute ago, satisfied he left the office to check on the last of his patients, and file his reports, before going home for the first time in almost three days.

The reception desk was filled with people when Malfoy arrived to put his patient files away. Everyone was standing around Padma Patil, who had taken control of the usually hectic handover that happened at the end of every shift at St Mungo's.

"Give it a rest Patil" Malfoy called out as she was firing off instructions at several frazzled looking interns.

Padma shot him a look of exasperation before turning back to the group saying, "Does everyone understand?"

She received a few apprehensive nods before adding sharply, "Well then, why are you all still standing here?"

Recognizing this as a dismissal everyone scattered to complete the various assignments. Padma turned back to Malfoy, who was leaning against a filing cabinet smirking.

"Thanks for all your professional support Draco"

Draco crossed his arms and shrugged, "Why do you bother? Half of them will be back here in the first half an hour whining desperately, or flat out wanting to swap patients with someone else. Seriously make it a first come first served scenario and if you get stuck with Madame Lightblossom and her magically growing toe-nails it's just an incentive to get here earlier tomorrow."

Padma raised an eyebrow "Maybe if the other senior healer bothered to show they might take the process more seriously? It doesn't matter now though, I should have found enough to keep them occupied and out of my way for at least the next hour." Padma smiled as Draco chuckled softly.

"Good luck with that idea," he said smirking.

"We live in hope. You look like shit by the way Draco. I really hope you're not staying any longer as I don't think we have enough unconscious patients to keep you busy and I'm pretty sure you'd scare the conscious ones half to death," Padma laughed at him, while Draco frowned feigning offence.

"I, unlike some, have been here for almost 3 days dealing with every magical bite, burn and boil imaginable, and several unimaginable ones, to walk through those doors. Here take a look at this!" He waved a file in Padma's face that she snatched off him and read through. As she read Padma started laughing loudly.

"It's not funny Pads, seriously after fourteen hours, three double doses of Fresh Flesh potion, his skin is still orange and won't heal. It finally stopped oozing purple pus only to develop several questionable purple pimples. If that's a dog bite, I'm a flobberworm! Although he insists it was his neighbour's Jack Russell that seemingly devoured half his right buttock." Draco rolled his eyes.

"So what are we going to do then?" Padma asked, now quite serious.

"I'm not doing anything except going home to watch quidditch, have a long hot shower, and sleep in a proper bed. You should probably leave him sedated and wait for the Ministry to get back to you, I owled the DRCMC and DMAC requesting an investigation when he arrived- a reply shouldn't be far away."

Padma smiled, "Thanks Draco. Although, watching quidditch in bed might have to wait. These were hand delivered by the Auror's Department, I found a rather timid Auror in training loitering outside your office while you were finishing your rounds," Padma smirked knowingly at Draco.

Draco's eyes narrowed, "Fucking Potter, impeccable timing as always," he muttered.

Padma laughed, "I better go and make sure the interns haven't done anything to land a patient in the Permanent Damage ward. I'll see you in a couple of days?"

Draco nodded, "Yeah, apparently I have to take two days off in a row occasionally. At least that should be enough time for me to save Potter's arse."

Padma smirked knowingly as she wished Draco a goodnight.

Draco briefly waved goodbye before going to the changing rooms and sending an owl, which simply said:

Potter,

Leaky 8:30 _sharp_. Your round first.

-DM

He then proceeded to a designated staff apparition point; at least he would have an hour at home before meeting Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: A second chapter- this one was only half finished when I published the first and has turned out much longer then expected. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy- Nx**

"Get out of my way Percy Weasley!"

As the angry yell rang throughout the conference room, Minister Shaklebolt paled upon recognising the woman's voice, several foreign trade envoys gave him strange looks prompting him to continue with his presentation of a proposal regarding tougher regulations of the transnational trading of magical creatures.

"If you could all turn to page 147 you will see a summary table of…"

Outside the door Percy Weasley was desperately trying to prevent the furious witch in front of him gaining entry.

"Hermione," he started weakly "Please if you just go upstairs to the Minister's office, you can wait there- Miriam will get you a cup of tea and you can collect your thoughts," behind Percy was a stylish impeccably tailored witch, presumably Miriam, glaring at him with an expression that was caught somewhere between the morbid curiosity of waiting to see her colleague potentially disemboweled and the horror at the suggestion of her making tea for anyone- let alone the junior public servant stood in front of them.

"Collect my thoughts! Percy I don't need to collect anything- what I need is answers from the Minister," Hermione was beyond mad now, although just when she thought she had broken Weasley, a smug self-assured look appeared on his face. Percy wiped the nervous sweat from his brow straightened his robes and said in an overly confident tone,

"Now listen Ms. Granger I acknowledge that you have concerns you wish to raise with the Minister however, he is currently unavailable. Given your recent outburst and your position, I would advise you follow these gentleman and next time you use the correct channels to make an appointment with the Minister after receiving approval from your supervisor" Hermione turned to see two Aurors approaching her cautiously, she rolled her eyes at the sight and raised her wand saying to them,

"You really don't want to do this, I can assure you that you are solidly out of your league and I really don't have the time or inclination to deal with you. So you have two options, in less than a minute you can walk away and pretend you didn't receive a summons from Weasley, or I can hand your arses to you. Either way you end up back at your desk but, at least there isn't a mountain of paperwork with the first option."

Inside the conference room Kingsley Shaklebolt stood still. In fact, the entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin-drop. Unfortunately for the Minister it wasn't his presentation that had captured everyone's attention, instead it was the goings on outside that everyone was listening to with rapt attention, trying to learn what had 'the brightest witch of her age' in such a fury. Many of the delegates were actively avoiding eye contact with their counterparts so, they didn't laugh at the pathetic attempts of an out-of-his-depth Percy Weasley.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion and the doors burst open. Various delegates stood defensively unsure of what to expect, and several others turned to the British Minister seeking reassurance, but he himself had backed away from the open door as if trying to make himself invisible, no easy feat for the 6ft something man. As the dust cleared a tall witch dressed like she had stepped straight out of Witch Weekly's Professional Witches edition entered the room- her gait was unhurried, actually she may have even looked bored if not for the small smirk gracing her lips and a sardonic glint in her eye. There was nothing in her immaculate appearance suggesting that she had just come from the partially demolished hallway as she announced,

"Ms. Hermione Granger to see you Minister- she insists that the matter is urgent sir"

"Yes thank-you Miriam however, as you can see I am in the middle of something right now," Kinsgley replied attempting to regain control of the situation.

Miriam's smirk widened as she said "Yes Minister, and Mr. Weasley tried to explain this to her. However, Ms. Granger was quite _insistent,_ to the extent that Mr. Weasley and two Aurors are currently restrained in the hallway- and Ms. Granger has assured me that she intends to continue utilising such methods with any other Ministry employees should they try and prevent her meeting with you sir,"

Kingsley seemed to have forgotten the other people in the room as he almost shrieked " SHE WHAT?! She cannot restrain the entire Auror Department in an hysterical attempt to see me,"

"Actually _Minister_ I rather think I can," a slightly shorter but no less impeccably presented witch, had entered the room behind Miriam "thank-you Miriam for your assistance- also I would hate to speak out of turn but I would like to suggest that the Minister arranges a meeting with the head of the DMLE because if they were _Britain's finest_ we have a serious problem." By this stage Kingsley's mouth was agape as he continuously failed to compose himself, meanwhile several of the delegates present sniggered at the witch's unsubtle dig at the Aurors.

Finally he managed, "Thank-you Miriam that will be all, no meeting is required as you can imagine our Aurors should not be required to expect senseless attacks in their place of work, especially during peace time" by the end of his little speech Kingsley hoped he won a few of the spectators over however, a quick assertion suggested otherwise.

"Why Minister forgive me I must have miscommunicated in some way- the attack on departmental staff wasn't senseless actually given it was 3 against 1, I ensured that the method I used was highly calculated. But really I'm not here to discuss the fact that what I just did uncovered the kind of departmental incompetence usually reserved for page 500-and-something of a consultant's report that would cost the Ministry upwards of a thousand galleons, no Minister I would like to raise a few concerns brought to me by Madam Marchbanks this morning."

"Really Ms. Granger whatever you have to say will not justify attacking senior Ministry personnel and causing a diplomatic incident. I am surprised at you, especially since the matter we are discussing today is supposedly one that you are passionate about," Kingsley decided that condescension was the best route when one was losing the moral high ground. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him,

"Yes Minister especially since I wrote the report you're presenting, but if I have embarrassed you in front of your colleagues please _forgive me."_ Hermione's reply was without any trace of actual remorse before she turned to the room and continued, "Ladies and Gentlemen I thank-you for your time and patience today, as you can see I have had to interrupt today's meeting as I recently discovered the Minister has been lying to me for almost 4 years about my role here at the Ministry. Minister Shaklebolt led me to believe I was completing an apprenticeship of sorts gaining experience across a variety of departmental roles, both desk-bound and in the field. Whilst at the same time he was claiming sole credit for the bulk of the work I was producing and telling other senior officials that I was lacking focus and direction within my chosen career path. Can you imagine my surprise when a senior member of the Wizengamot came to me offering me support, as she could no longer sit back in silence whilst I floundered in my career with the Ministry by changing positions again and again? When I explained my apprenticeship she was genuinely shocked as no one else had any knowledge of this arrangement."

Hermione paused and turned back to Kingsley gauging his reaction, unsurprised to see that he was pale and sweating profusely again Hermione added, "Honestly Minister, Madam Marchbanks explained that no such arrangement would ever be considered necessary within the Ministry as it has long been held that staff can progress through the ranks by taking jobs in different departments thus gaining a broad range of skills and knowledge. A question I raised with you initially when you proposed this arrangement, and again at several intervals throughout the years, to which your response was always how this role was the start of a new hiring practice at the ministry and would be a trial for future employment practices, reassuring me that said trial had the full backing of the Wizengamot. This continued deception and blatant sabotaging of my career mean that I am tendering my resignation effective immediately, since you seemingly have no actual response to the assertions I have raised," Hermione waited several moments for the Minister of Magic to come up with something however, Kinsley had taken a seat in the corner of the room, and appeared to be unable to articulate a response, simply staring at the floor.

So, Hermione decided that her final act of employment for the Ministry of Magic would at least be something worthwhile and turned back to the delegates, with a brisk flourish of her wand resulting in several small visible changes to the reports in front of them.

"Again forgive my interruption, I do feel very strongly about the need to update the standards around the transnational trade of magical creatures to a model that not only acknowledges the needs of ancient business practices that many witches and wizards the world over have relied upon for their livelihoods, but to one that also recogises the fluctuation of populations of magical creatures in the wild and the changing ethical standards of the broader magical community regarding this issue. You are all very busy and this afternoon's meeting has taken many unexpected turns however, I have marked your booklets with tabs highlighting the following key areas- the red tabs are economic impacts, the yellow environmental and the blue are social impacts and expectations. I have also included a green sheet with a list of key contacts for your countries and regions, all of which were consulted in the development of the report, in addition at the bottom of the page you will find a list of the team members here at the British Ministry who assisted in writing the report. Without a shadow of doubt I can assure you that anyone on that list will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank-you again for your time, I believe there are some light refreshments available across the hall, and Miriam is just outside to provide any assistance you may require with your travel arrangements for your return journeys."

As she finished speaking, the round of applause she received from the room surprised Hermione. She made her way to stand by the exit farewelling the delegates, and was thoroughly astonished but very pleased to receive several job offers there and then, given that it was right in front of Kingsley who had spent so much time and effort stalling her career made it even better.


End file.
